English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

CowperKettle

1:46 AM

> In 2023, Dilbert was dropped by numerous newspapers and its distributor, Andrews McMeel Syndication, after Adams published a video in which he referred to black people as a "hate group" and advised white people to "get the hell away from black people." Adams later said this was a use of hyperbole.

> After a 2022 mass shooting, Adams tweeted that society leaves parents of troubled teenage boys with only two options: to either watch people die, or murder their own son. He said his comments were inspired by his own stepson, who became addicted to drugs at the age of 14 and later died of a fentanyl overdose.

> In a series of comic strips in September 2022, Dilbert parodied environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) strategies. Part of the plotline involved a black character who "identif[ied] as white" and the company management asking him if he could also identify as gay.

Well, he was just being emotional. People are emotional.

> Adams trained as a hypnotist.[128] He credits affirmations for many of his achievements, including scoring in the ninety-fourth percentile on a difficult qualification exam for business school and creating Dilbert's success. He states that the affirmations give him focus.[6]

> He has described a method he has used that he says gave him success: he pictured in his mind what he wanted and wrote it down 15 times a day on a piece of paper.[129] (This technique is used by Dogbert in a 1989 Dilbert strip.[130])

Self-affirmation

Self-affirmation theory is a psychological theory that focuses on how individuals adapt to information or experiences that are threatening to their self-concept. Claude Steele originally popularized self-affirmation theory in the late 1980s, and it remains a well-studied theory in social psychological research. Self-affirmation theory contends that if individuals reflect on values that are personally relevant to them, they are less likely to experience distress and react defensively when confronted with information that contradicts or threatens their sense of self. Experimental investigations of...

We should get used to the fact that people get old, get kranky, get stuck in their weird beliefs, and get emotional.

Even talented people.

Canceling is sick.

CowperKettle

2:34 AM

M.A.R.

3:08 AM

@CowperKettle it's never as simple as that. You can't ask people not to ostracize someone whose views they no longer find insightful.

But yeah it always slips into the gray areas when people's livelihoods are at stake.

It's painful to watch a standup comedian not get any reactions. But you can't make people laugh at the comedian's jokes either. Parts of 'cancelling' Adams were just the webcomic version of the awkward lack of reaction to his standup jokes.

CowperKettle

5:26 AM

A pig without 3.14 is 9.8

The_AH

6:51 AM

Where would a question about the "convicted" in "convicted felon" fit?

CowperKettle

7:09 AM

@M.A.R. Yes, I understand

It's just the longer I live, the more it seems to me that a person is not consistent over time.

I am not consistent over time, and the surface I present to the outsiders is different from reality, as is the surface that I present to myself in my ruminations

Or "the face", instead of "surface"

Robusto

1:03 PM

@CowperKettle Right here in SE chat you have the ability to ignore (i.e., cancel) any user you like. Is that "sick"? I think not. It's the same as ignoring people who waste your time, you don't like for other reasons, or even present you with some form of harm.

user 20458579510081670432

"the only real defense is active defense"

Robusto

1:21 PM

#WhenTaken #165 (10.08.2024)

I scored 856/1000 🎉

1️⃣ 📍 645 km - 🗓️ 3 yrs - ⚡ 178 / 200
2️⃣ 📍 243 km - 🗓️ 11 yrs - ⚡ 173 / 200
3️⃣ 📍 127 km - 🗓️ 3 yrs - ⚡ 191 / 200
4️⃣ 📍 754 km - 🗓️ 16 yrs - ⚡ 144 / 200
5️⃣ 📍 2 km - 🗓️ 15 yrs - ⚡ 170 / 200

https://whentaken.com

Wordle 1,148 3/6

⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Robusto

2:31 PM

Daily Octordle #929
🕐🕛
8️⃣🔟
4️⃣🕚
5️⃣6️⃣
Score: 69

Daily Sequence Octordle #929
4️⃣7️⃣
8️⃣🔟
🕚🕛
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Score: 79

jlliagre

3:29 PM

#WhenTaken #165 (10.08.2024)

I scored 945/1000 🎉

1️⃣ 📍 652 km - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 178 / 200
2️⃣ 📍 115 km - 🗓️ 1 yrs - ⚡ 194 / 200
3️⃣ 📍 6 km - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 198 / 200
4️⃣ 📍 254 km - 🗓️ 1 yrs - ⚡ 190 / 200
5️⃣ 📍 349.8 metres - 🗓️ 10 yrs - ⚡ 185 / 200

https://whentaken.com

@Robusto Spoiler

Wordle 1,148 4/6

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Robusto

@jlliagre Spoiler

Anyway, that was only seven points different from your score, so not a big deal.

Where I really failed was #4.

Also #5's date was way off.

jlliagre

@Robusto Okay, I thought you knew about that place.

Robusto

I haven't been there.

jlliagre

@Robusto Spoiler

Robusto

@jlliagre All the more reason I've never been.

jlliagre

3:45 PM

@Robusto Spoiler

Daily Octordle #929
🕚🕛
5️⃣4️⃣
🔟6️⃣
7️⃣9️⃣
Score: 64

Daily Sequence Octordle #929
3️⃣5️⃣
6️⃣7️⃣
9️⃣🔟
🕚🕛
Score: 63

Robusto

@jlliagre Spoiler

Mar 5 at 14:37, by Robusto

> Sun don't shine on the same dog's ass every day.

M.A.R.

4:20 PM

@CowperKettle So you're saying that if someone thinks something racist out loud, they should be debated and debunked, rather than silenced. I lean towards this position too. In an ideal world you would be right. But the well is poisoned already.

In America, at least. Which is why European countries tend to be saner about it.

Americans assume ill intent right from the start. Can't have much of a debate like that.

@user20458579510081670432 SORRY CAN'Y HEAR YOU LA LA LA LA

What the heck is up with that username

Probably a power of two

Robusto

@M.A.R. Who is silenced if people refuse to listen to all that crap?

M.A.R.

@Robusto Not that part, the part where people lose 80% of their income because of what they don't say in their comics.

I don't think Dilbert itself has deviated much from mocking corporate politics.

If the webcomic itself spouted racist crap, sure.

Robusto

@M.A.R. I weep not for Scott.

I used to follow his strips in the newspaper every day. And suddenly he just went off the deep end. So I stopped reading. So did many others. This isn't like a debate forum, however much you may wish it to be so. This is a corporation selling a commodity. And if people don't buy, they don't buy.

M.A.R.

Well, cancelling his contracts makes a martyr of him for the rightists, corners him and pushed him to make deals with the other side of the fence, further polarizing people and poisoning the well.

Robusto

sound of the worlds smallest violin playing "hearts and flowers"

M.A.R.

4:30 PM

How small is the world's smallest violin BTW?

Robusto

Compare all this with Republicans refusing to say "Black lives matter." They will only say "all lives matter." Which is a true statement, but which, when you cut to the core, really means they don't care if people are being murdered by police for "driving while Black" and other reasons.

M.A.R.

I wouldn't be surprised if some wacko who could have totally donated some of that money to me instead used some hyper-advanced electron microscope thingamajig to make a violin out of graphene sheets or whatever.

Robusto

@M.A.R. About one Planck length long.

In other words, infinitesimal.

M.A.R.

@Robusto Sure, they're always being passive-aggressive

Nudging each other and winking

Robusto

M.A.R.

4:36 PM

Well, you already know where I stand on these matters.

Except education.

Education always sucks, no matter what you do.

Robusto

@M.A.R. Funny hearing that from someone who has had so much of it.

M.A.R.

It is the least optimized process in the history of processes

Robusto

The flaw in education is that you only get to hear what the powers that be want you to hear. Which is why Florida bans books now.

M.A.R.

Because the people with the best ideas to improve it either can't articulate them or won't after the fact since the next generation of poor devils has to suffer just as much as I did mwahhahaha

Robusto

@M.A.R. Life is suffering, for one reason or another. If none of the common reasons are present, we invent them. Even billionaires: "Damn it all! His yacht is bigger than mine! Now I won't be able to meet his gaze at parties!"

M.A.R.

4:44 PM

@Robusto I feel like some people are proud of regression. They would say things like "It is part of the American identity to consider compassion weakness"

Of course, at the same time, it would be the only place where their American dream can come true, for them specifically, not Ted next door.

Ditto Iranian of course

Robusto

@M.A.R. Too many Americans are proud of their ignorance. "Don't confuse me with the facts!"

M.A.R.

Any country with a bunch of insecure people who are proud and vocal.

CowperKettle

@Robusto I loved a Russian standup comedian Zadornov, but he went off the deep end with anti-US jokes and fake etymology, deriving Russian from ancient Sanskrit.

But I still love his earlier records.

I think he sincerely went insane.

You can't expect a standup comedian to be a linguistics expert. The anti-US stuff is harder to take.

M.A.R.

For some Russians I suppose, standing up to the superpower is a crucial part of that misshapen regressive "identity" some would cling onto

The worst part is, with the things jingoists say, I start doubting myself whenever I feel proud for one accomplishment or another.

Robusto

5:03 PM

@CowperKettle I have often said one has to separate the art from the artist. Take Chick Corea, for example. A friend dismissed him, saying, "Well, but he's a Scientologist." I replied, "Then I wish more musicians practiced that."

But when the art suffers because of some external force, that's a different matter.

Take Wagner, for example. He was a fabulous composer. Yet his political views, which included anti-Semitism, over-inflated his works with polemical significance, to the point where I don't have the patience to sit through his operas in full. Also, he was shit at recitative.

alphabet

5:28 PM

@M.A.R. The government is using soy products, water fluoridation, and endocrine disruptors to feminize men and make them docile and compliant, doncha know? /s

MetaEd

Wordle 1,148 4/6

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alphabet

@Robusto Is that really cancelling? Cancelling would be banning someone from chat, or from SE, or trying to get them fired from their job, right?

@Robusto The real problem is that these determinations are made by ultra-powerful for-profit companies arbitrarily, with no form of due process for those affected. I think the newspapers made the right call, but if we're going to allow companies to gain that level of power over people's lives, we need to ensure that they operate with a level of procedural fairness.

Of course, the alternative solution here is "don't let for-profit corporations become that powerful"--which seems like the best solution insofar as (say) social media networks are concerned. We shouldn't need to trust Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk to make the right decisions.

The_AH

5:52 PM

Uhhh I thought I posted something here recently?

CowperKettle

6:03 PM

> Within hours of his initial steroid administration, the patient reported experiencing auditory hallucinations in the form of a Mexican song, “Mi Morena.” psychiatrist.com/pcc/steroid-induced-musical-hallucinosis

Robusto

@alphabet If a host of individuals cancel in that manner, the effect would be the same. You cannot conclude that there is a sinister group motive just because a number of individuals choose the same behavior.

@alphabet What level of power? You mean the kind of power they already have, and use in the pursuit of profit (or, on the flip side of that coin, the avoidance of loss)? Look at how Anheuser-Busch recently abandoned its trans-gendered influencer because a bunch of mouth-foaming bigots got upset about a single use case involving some cans of Bud Light. A boycott hurt their profits, so they switched course, to the detriment of that poor trans person. Who had the power there?

Here's an eloquent redneck discussing trans issues.

Angry veteran rants in truck about transgender Olympic boxer!

►

Full disclosure: It's not what you think.

alphabet

7:25 PM

@Robusto Yes, I do mean the kind of power that they already have, and use in the pursuit of profit. They should not have that power.

The root cause of this whole issue, in other words, is capitalism concentrating power in large companies accountable to no one.

(My message earlier was open to misinterpretation--I said "to gain that level of power" when I should've said "to have that level of power.")

alphabet

7:45 PM

But if we are going to keep giving corporations that level of power, they should at least be prevented from using it in arbitrary and unfair ways. Though that's probably impossible.

(In my ideal world, social networks would be required to adopt some sort of federated/decentralized system. Of course, you could still have (say) all your friends block you, or be banned from some individual server. But that wouldn't really be "cancelling" in the usual sense, since it doesn't involve using the power of some massive organization to take someone down.)

Mitch

8:23 PM

Have you all finally argued your way to the inevitable conclusion that people should selectively breed themselves to have very very low bone density and develop a skin flap between the torso and arm out to the wrist so that our descendants can naturally fly on Mars?

If not, then what is the point of even talking?

@Robusto I was thinking about a pepper and egg sandwich, with hot sauce. Is the video not about that?

Then that's a shame.

By 'descend__ants__' I naturally imply that we'll also have the multiplicative lifting strength enjoyed by our formic cousins.

@alphabet but what would you do instead? Would you stop people from creating new businesses or have new ideas?

Would you just do this for 'social networks'?

Actual social networks have their similar problems.

I mean cripes effing -people- have their similar problems.

Thanos was right.

Avengers Endgame: Why THANOS Was Right (And Was Actually Trying to Stop KANG) Secret Plan EXPLAINED

►

ie flip a coin for every sentient being in the universe and make 1/2 disappear

alphabet

We received internal Trump documents from ‘Robert.’ The campaign just confirmed it was hacked.

Mitch

Everybody's going to be real sad when half their pets go away, and also half the butcher shop.

alphabet

Apparently Microsoft determined that Iran was behind this.

Mitch

Fish... I don't know

@alphabet just reading the headline my first thought is it was the Trump team that did it.

Robusto

9:25 PM

@Mitch You do think about food a lot.

HippoSawrUs

9:49 PM

Time-saver: If you're really upset about what someone said, assume they have opioids (or whatever it is now) in their nightstand. Why check? They're there. I thought it was genetic mean/dumbness too. It's not. There's no bottleneck in the world that efficient. It's always comes down to science in the end. OK. Zzzz…

It always

gparyani

10:04 PM

Hey, a question: my recent FAQ edit was rolled back by another user because they thought the grammar was worse. However, I'm having trouble understanding what errors my version (22) introduced. Can someone please help point those out?

alphabet

@gparyani You're "Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog," right?

gparyani

@alphabet Yes

alphabet

@HippoSawrUs You better be right, otherwise all the time I spend breaking into users' houses to rifle through their nightstands will be wasted.

Incidentally: what is it with people writing "You better" instead of "You'd better"? Probably something about the /d/ getting assimilated in speech leading to some sort of reanalysis in sufficiently informal writing.

I need to know for my new textbook: Syntax for Raccoons: A Trashformational Approach.

It explores how "syntactic theft" can turn a syntax tree into a delicious pile of syntactic trash.

A follow-up to my previous book, Phonetics for Raccoons, which describes how to produce screeches that will scare humans into running away while leaving all their food behind.

gparyani

10:42 PM

It would be nice if I could work together with those more experienced in English grammar conventions to improve the post.

Mitch

11:46 PM

@Robusto all I'm saying is food is pretty good

Robusto

@Mitch All food, or just certain kinds, depending on the hunger level?

Mitch

@Robusto sure hunger and whether I like it or not

I mean you may like other things and that's OK

Robusto

@Mitch I'm not a gourmand. I usually just eat the same things until I get tired of them.

CowperKettle

> Reinforcement learning models reveal that increasing synaptic serotonin reduces sensitivity for outcomes in aversive contexts. Furthermore, increasing synaptic serotonin enhances behavioural inhibition, and shifts bias towards impulse control during exposure to aversive emotional probes. nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50394-x

Mitch

Like maybe there'd be more peace in the middle east if they realized that ...

I don't know how to say it

Their food is all the same

Israeli falafel, Palestinian falafel.

CowperKettle

11:59 PM

I love madjadrah

Mitch

But the point is, it's OK.

CowperKettle

Mujaddara

Mujaddara (Arabic: مجدّرة mujaddarah, with alternative spellings in English majadra, mejadra, moujadara, mudardara, and megadarra) is a dish consisting of cooked lentils together with groats, generally rice, and garnished with sautéed onions. It is especially popular in the Levant. == Name and origin == Mujaddara is the Arabic word for "pockmarked"; the lentils among the rice resemble pockmarks. The first recorded recipe for mujaddara appears in Kitab al-Tabikh, a cookbook compiled in 1226 by al-Baghdadi in Iraq. Containing rice, lentils, and meat, it was served this way during celebratio...

Mitch

Either one

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…